Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for Premier McLeod. We all acknowledge, here in the North, that we need to bolster the economy here to ensure we have a vibrant society. At the same time, there are also dire social needs at the community level. As I stated a few minutes ago, new spending to address the goal of healthy, educated people free from poverty is meager next to the spending on the Inuvik to Tuk highway.
How does the Premier justify the gross discrepancy between spending on infrastructure and spending on our people’s well-being? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the last time I checked, this government spends about 70 percent of our budget on social programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The basic needs of people in the communities are ensuring they have food and shelter. My colleague just expressed a need for school councillors. School boards’ budgets are being shifted towards communities. This week in the House, the supplementary appropriation requests are being considered. The government is asking for an additional $40 million for the Inuvik to Tuk highway and $20 million for offsetting energy costs.
Why is it so easy for the Premier to find money for these projects while other pressing issues are left completely unaddressed? Mahsi.
I believe the Member is referring to our capital budget. We spend $1.6 billion on programs, so we are spending a lot of money in all of those areas the Member identifies. Thank you.
My final question relates to the results of the Early Development Instrument, or EDI. I mentioned the EDI results because they’re a decisive measure of whether our people are healthy, educated and free from poverty. Mr. Speaker, on indicators of things like communication skills and physical well-being, our smallest communities are challenged. They are miles behind their peers in other parts of Canada.
How does the Premier balance his unbalanced focus on infrastructure when our children are so ill-prepared to face the world? What is the Premier doing to ensure people in small communities are healthy, educated and free from poverty? Mahsi.
As a government, we just rolled out a number of policies. We came out with an Anti-Poverty Strategy where we provided $500,000 to address this. We are spending money on housing. We’re going to spend $21 million on housing over the next three years, and we continue to provide support in all of the 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
